Dec. 8, 2012

Written by

and Barbara Livingston Nackman

A waste hauler’s expansion into northern Westchester and Putnam is drawing scrutiny to the man in charge of the operation and, in one case, the process behind a winning bid.

A subsidiary of R&S Waste Services, whose chairman is Joseph Spiezio III, won a contract to pick up garbage in Yorktown for $2.4 million. The losing bidder, C.R.P. Sanitation, is suing the town to block the awarding of the bid.

In papers filed Thursday in state Supreme Court, Spiezio is called a “person accused of breaching contracts and unethical business practices.” Questions were raised about whether Competition Carting, a new firm with no prior experience started by Yorktown resident Brian Amico, had enough resources to handle the job. The lawsuit also contends the award should not have been granted, since Competition Carting did not have a valid waste hauler’s license at the time.

“To call it sloppy is an understatement,” C.R.P Sanitation’s lawyer David Wright said this week.

Frontline Waste Management Corp., a subsidiary of R&S, has a waste hauler’s license. It also does business under the name Competition Carting and Amico is its president.

R&S recently won a $190,000 contract in Carmel and is set to begin Jan. 1 in that town’s first townwide trash-collection initiative, which is intended to save homeowners hundreds of dollars a year. The company also has a more than $1 million contract with Westchester County that began earlier this year to pick up trash at county facilities.

Spiezio has been accused of questionable real estate dealings in Yonkers and New Jersey and his actions have been the subject of 50 legal claims that allege he did not pay bills and loans. He pointed out that none resulted in a conviction and that the allegations date to the 1980s and 1990s.

Spiezio also insisted that his company was legally entitled to the Yorktown contract, and it was more than able to do the work. As to his own background, he said, “I’ve been vetted,” and there was nothing to prevent him from doing business.

(Page 2 of 2)

“It’s sour grapes, that they lost the bid to a smarter, smaller company that was won fair and square,” he said of the lawsuit seeking to overturn the Yorktown contract. “Competition is good.”

Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace said it was his belief that all the proper procedures were in place when the bid was awarded.

He noted that the larger operation that included Competition Carting did business for Westchester County.

“If it’s good enough for Westchester County, it should be good enough for Yorktown Heights,” he said, adding the deal represented a substantial savings for residents.

Grace said he was unaware of Spiezio’s history and couldn’t comment on it, other than noting, “Anybody can be sued.”

Susan Siegel, a former town supervisor who has been critical of the current administration, questioned the process behind the winning bid and whether it was adequately researched. “I commend the Town Board for trying to save money and going out for another bid, but I believe the board made a mistake when it decided not to require any municipal experience or financial documentation in the bid specs,” she said.

R&S Waste filed its initial corporate paperwork with the state on Feb. 17, 2011. Although he is best known as a developer, Spiezio said Wednesday when reached by telephone at his Harrison office, “I’m an entrepreneur. I’m a businessman open to new ventures.”

Spiezio said even though the company was formed less than two years ago it can handle large municipal contracts. The contract with Westchester County began March 1 and runs through Feb. 28, 2015. It includes one two-year renewal at the discretion of the county.

“Collectively we have 45 years experience in this business,” Spiezio said.

The plaintiff in the Yorktown suit, C.R.P. is an affiliate of City Carting. Two and a half years ago, a contract with City Carting ran into controversy when legislators raised concerns that the two men the company had designated to run its Westchester subsidiary had been officers of Suburban Carting of Mamaroneck or a subsidiary when then-company President Thomas Milo was charged with being part of a scheme tied to organized crime. Milo was sentenced to three years in prison in that case.

Although the City Carting officials involved never faced charges, the company picked new people to handle the Westchester work before it received the county contract.

In addition to selecting R&S Waste, the Town of Carmel awarded a second trash hauling contract to AAA Carting, which also does business as A&N Carting. The company will begin to collect trash Jan. 1 from the town’s single-family and mother-daughter homes.

Attempts to reach Carmel Town Supervisor Kenneth Schmitt and staff were unsuccessful.

Within several weeks, R&S will begin collecting trash from roughly 2,100 condominium units in Carmel.